Remote and fast-acting fastening and release device

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a remote and fast-acting fastening and release device. The device comprises a hook suitable for engaging any moving part to which the device is fastened and released, together with a traction ring that receives a link element on which it must be possible to exert a traction force in any direction. The hook is mounted to move about an axis perpendicular to the traction direction and secured to one end of a carrier element that carries the traction ring which is situated at the opposite end of the carrier element. The courier element includes a moving locking means that holds the mooring hook substantially stationary against rotation in such a manner that said hook is and remains in its position for fastening to and applying traction to the mooring part.

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to a remote and fast-acting fastening andrelease device.

The technical sector of the invention is the field of manufacturingsystems for providing linking and mooring between two points that are tobe connected together, at least one of the two points being a movingpoint.

One of the main applications of the invention is mooring boats to a ringprovided for that purpose, which ring may be secured or fixed on a buoy,a mooring buoy, a quay, another boat, etc. . . .

Various devices are known enabling such links or moorings to be made forboats, however they are also known in other fields, such as railways,goods-handling, mountain climbing, etc. . . .

By way of example, various patent applications may be mentioned thatdeal with such devices, such as:

French patent application FR 2 606 732 published on May 20, 1988, in thenames of Berenger and Mouysset, entitled "Fastening and/or releasedevice mounted at the end of a mooring-carrying boathook pole formooring a mooring buoy or a ring". That device essentially comprises astandard snap-hook arrangement enabling opening and closing thereof.

French patent application FR 2 585 664 published on Feb. 6, 1987 andfiled by Mr. Boucheron, entitled "Safety boathook for mooring on ananchor buoy under remote control" which describes a system equivalent tothe preceding system,

French patent application FR 2 505 433 published on Nov. 12, 1982 filedby Mr. Orighoni and entitled "A device for fast-acting and safe mooringof a cable, e.g. a mooring for a boat", which describes a systemintegrated in a hook comprising a fixed portion and a moving portion,which portions are linked together by locking means, and the systemfurther including members for operating it at a distance from the hook.

European application EP 390 834 published on Oct. 10, 1990, filed byGrassi and Ronchi under Italian priority and entitled "A fast-actingstop clamp whose clamping force is a direct function of load, for usewith cables for suspending weights, . . . ", or indeed Europeanapplication EP 81 844 published on Jun. 22, 1983 and filed underAmerican priority by B. F. Goodrich Company, and entitled "A set ofhooks with automatic closing and release".

All of those systems and devices set out to be suitable for remote andfast-acting fastening and release in certain applications, however theyare generally too fragile and not suitable for taking up large forces,or else they are complicated to use and therefore require very specialskill in order to enable them to be engaged; some of them are adapted toapplications that are highly specific, such as holding under a load, anddo not enable fastening to be achieved since they open whenever the loadis relaxed, and that happens often when the load is a moored boat, inwhich case it would be dangerous.

Mention may also be made of fast-opening snap-hooks and other devicesthat require direct manual intervention by an operator in order to beput into place, which goes against the object of the present invention.

The problem posed is to be able to fasten any link element, e.g. a boatmooring, to a mooring part such as the ring on a buoy, with this beingdone remotely from the mooring part, at a distance is not stable, e.g.from the deck of a boat that is under way, thus requiring fastening tobe performed accurately and quickly by means of an approach and graspingmovement that is simple so as to make it possible to avoid re-startingthe operation too often; once fastening has been achieved, the devicemust ensure a safe mooring by taking up any traction force that may beapplied to said mooring, e.g. because of forces being applied to saidboat by the wind, by the current, and/or by its own motor, whichtraction forces must be capable of being taken up by said mooring part;in addition, it must be possible rapidly to release said device carryingthe element for linking to said mooring part without any risk ofjamming, and whenever so desired, e.g. for the purpose of leaving amooring quickly, in particular when the boat in question is subject torough weather and is not fully in control of its own movement: it mustbe possible to let go the mooring whether it is under tension or not,and at some distance from the said mooring part, which distance is notstable, and this must be possible without any risk of jamming since thatwould require subsequent manual intervention.

One solution to the problem posed is a remote and fast-acting fasteningand release device comprising a hook suitable for engaging any mooringpart to which the device is to be fastened and released, together with atraction ring that receives a link element on which it must be possibleto exert a traction force in any direction; said hook is mounted to moveabout an axis perpendicular to the traction direction and secured to oneend of a carrier element that carries the traction ring which issituated at the opposite end of said carrier element, which carrierelement includes a moving locking means that holds the mooring hooksubstantially stationary against rotation in such a manner that saidhook is and remains in its position for fastening to and applyingtraction to the mooring part. In one embodiment, said moving meansincludes a cylindrically-shaped main element held against and guided indisplacement along the central elongate body of the carrier element, andan abutment-forming retaining finger extending perpendicularly to themain element; in which case the mooring hook includes a securing memberconstituted by a part that is itself hook-shaped, being secured to thatend of the mooring hook which comes against the central body of thecarrier element in the locking position, and which projects in saidposition thereof so as to enable the finger to engage therein.

In another embodiment in which the mooring hook does not include asecuring member, the moving locking means is hinged on the traction ringor on any support secured thereto and includes an abutment bearingdirectly against the end of the hook which it secures in the lockingposition; this moving means is then disposed on the same side of thecentral body of the carrier element as said hook, and it includes aclevis secured to said abutment and itself bearing against a part forstopping the carrier element.

In order to enable the device of the invention to perform fasteningremotely, it may be associated with a boathook pole that is removable,having an end which includes a notch for securing the thrust abutment ofthe fastening hook and which can be locked relative to the carrierelement of the hook by pulling on the link member so as then to be ableto present said hook in a good position for fastening purposes.

Likewise, in order to enable release to be performed remotely in amanner that is as simple as possible, said moving means of the inventionmay include a resilient element and a part for fixing a release memberadjacent to the traction ring; which release member, when subjected totraction, makes it possible to disengage the abutment for retaining theend of the moving fastening hook, and on being released makes itpossible for said abutment to be returned into its locking position bysaid resilient element.

The result is novel remote and fast-acting fastening and release deviceswhich provide an answer to the problem posed and to the above-mentioneddrawbacks of existing systems.

In the main above-mentioned application of mooring a boat, it is thuspossible, for example, to stand on the deck of the boat close to thestem thereof while holding both the mooring which is to be connected,and the end of the boathook pole, with the other end of the polecarrying the hook which is held against the carrier element and which iskept safe by the securing notch of the boathook pole; this notch bearsagainst the retaining abutment and therefore prevents any wrongoperation and risk of the hook opening; said carrier element isconnected to one end of the mooring which is to be fixed and whose otherend naturally remains on the boat.

By using the boathook pole to manipulate the device of the invention inthe same manner as any conventional boathook, the operator can thenengage the mooring hook of the device quite easily in the ring to whichit is to be fastened, and then by removing the pole, the operatorensures the boat is securely moored by pulling on the mooring.

Any conventional type of tilting or resilient element that moves out ofthe way during fastening can be used to ensure that the hook closes soas to remain fastened to the mooring part, even if the tension on themooring is released.

When it is desired to unhook the device, it suffices to apply tractionto the release member which can be placed safely along the mooring orthe link element, and which is therefore recovered together therewith:said release member then makes it possible when traction is appliedthereto to release the abutment retaining the end of the moving mooringhook which had previously been secured by said abutment, with the hookopening under the effect of the various moments due to the forcesinvolved and as defined below: the device then immediately releases themooring part and enables the ship to leave its location.

All of the above operations can be performed in complete safety and witha minimum amount of knowledge and skill when using the device of theinvention: it is also very simple to manufacture, by assembling variousmechanical parts which are themselves easy to make by forging, cutting,machining, and/or welding, and some of which are commercially available.

Other advantages of the present invention could also be mentioned,however those mentioned above already suffice in showing the novelty andthe advantage of the invention.

The following description and figures relate to two embodiments of theinvention, but the invention is not in any way limited thereto: otherembodiments are possible in the ambit of the scope and the extent of thepresent invention, in particular by changing various basic shapes forthe different elements of the device enabling the same functions to beperformed.

FIG. 1 is a profile view of an embodiment of the device of the inventionin the fastened position.

FIG. 2 is a profile view of the same device as in FIG. 1, but in itsrelease position.

FIG. 3 is a profile view of another embodiment of the device of theinvention in its fastened position.

FIG. 3a is a profile view of the embodiment of FIG. 3 showing the cleviswithin the tractor ring.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section view of the FIG. 3 device.

In conventional manner, the devices as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 comprise ahook 1 enabling any mooring part 19 (such as the ring on a buoy in themain application to a boat) onto which the device is to fasten andrelease, together with a traction ring 5 that receives some kind of linkelement 20, such as the mooring line of said boat, and on which atraction force T can be exerted in any direction xx', and in particularthe direction to a mooring point secured to the boat, for example.

In FIG. 1, said mooring part 19 is shown firstly in a position 31independent of the device of the invention, and secondly in a position32 after it has been engaged in the hook 1, thereby enabling traction Tto be taken up by transmission of the reaction force F on the mooringpart proper.

In FIG. 2, the same mooring part 19 is shown in its position 33 while itis being let go, and thus while it is becoming disengaged from thedevice of the invention.

In the explanations above and in the present description, we naturallyrefer to the main application of mooring a vessel, however it is clearthat any device of the invention can also be used in other fields ofapplication, optionally using different shapes and dispositions for thevarious parts constituting the device.

In all embodiments of the device, one of its main characteristics isthat said hook 1 is mounted to move about an axis 6 that issubstantially perpendicular to the direction xx' of the traction Tapplied by the link element 20 such as a mooring, the axis 6 beingsecured to one end of a carrier element 2 for the traction ring 5 whichis situated at the other end of the carrier element from the said axis6. The carrier element 2 includes moving locking means 4 that hold thehook 1 in place, and more particularly that substantially prevent theend 3 thereof from rotating so that said hook lies in and remains in itsposition for fastening and applying traction to the part 19.

The hook 1 comprises a curved main body 9 having one end that is closedin the fastening position by a tilting element 11 which is fixed at oneend only to the traction ring 5, and that enables the hook 1 to beopened by allowing its other end to tilt; the other end 3 of the mooringhook 1 which comes against the central body 12 of the carrier element 2when it is in its locking position is held stationary by an abutment 15of said moving means 4. In addition, the hook 1 includes a supportingfork 8 secured to its main body 9 and carrying said axis 6 enabling thehook to rotate relative to the carrier element 2: said supporting fork 8may be constituted by two plates or cheeks fixed on either side of thebody 9.

The tilting element 11 may be a resilient element such as a metal wirecurved into a hairpin shape, with its two curved-together ends engagingin two holes 24 that are offset and made in the traction ring 5; inconventional manner, such an offset ensures that the resilient element11 is always returned to the plane of the two holes 24 after saidresilient element 11 has been pushed aside to cause it to tilt, as whenfastening the hook 1 by passing it around the mooring part 31: when thepart presses against the resilient element 11, it tilts out of the wayand then closes again after the part 19 has gone past, thereby leavingthe part free to engage in the end of the hook 1 so as to take up thetraction T.

The end of the hook 1 which is thus closed by the resilient element 11may include a catch 10 for holding said resilient element 11 in itsclosed position and ensuring there is no danger of the element 11 beingopened, e.g. by rubbing against the mooring part 19 in the event of thetraction T being released. Also, the thrust of said resilient element 11against the end of the hook 1 serves to keep it with maximum thrustagainst the retaining abutment 15, thereby compensating for any slack inthe hinge and the assembly, such as the necessary and/or desiredclearance "e" between the hook 1 and the central body 12 of the carrierelement 2.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, the central body 12 of the carrierelement 2 that has the said end 3 of the hook 1 secured against one sidethereof when the hook is in its fastening position, carries said movingmeans 4 on its side remote from the hook 1; said end 3 of the hook 1carries a locking member 22 that, in the locking position, passes overto the same side of the body 12 of the carrier element as said movingmeans 4 and co-operates with an abutment 15 thereon to lock the hook 1and hold it in place.

To achieve simple release of said carrier element 2, it may beconstituted by a single metal rod of substantially circular section witha rectilinear middle portion constituting an elongate central body 12,and having one end curved to form the traction hook 5 while its otherend 7 carries the axis 6 on which the hook 1 rotates; for this purpose,the end 7 may likewise be curved like a pistol-grip, as shown in FIGS. 1and 2, or else it may be pierced as shown in FIG. 3.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, the moving means 4 comprises a mainelement 14 that is cylindrical in shape and that is held against andguided in displacement along the elongate central body 12 of the carrierelement 2, together with an abutment-forming retaining finger 15extending perpendicularly to the main element 14, i.e. substantiallyparallel to the axis of rotation 6 of the hook 1; with the hook-securingmember 22 being constituted as a single part that is itself in the formof a hook which is secured to one end of the mooring part 1, which comesagainst the central body 12 in the locking position, and which projectstherefrom to enable the said finger 15 to engage therewith.

In a version of the device of the invention suitable for remote control,said cylindrically-shaped main body 14 could be an electrical orhydraulic actuator under remote control with an actuator rod that isextensible and retractable carrying said retaining abutment or finger15.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the hook 1 does notinclude a hook-securing member as in the preceding embodiment, and themoving locking means 4 is hinged on the traction ring 5 or on any othersupport secured thereto, and includes an abutment 15 that bears directlyagainst the end 3 of the hook 1, thereby securing it in the lockedposition. The moving means 4 is disposed on the same side of the centralbody 12 of the carrier element 2 as said hook 1, and it includes aclevis 26 secured to said abutment 15 and itself bearing against anyappropriate stop part 27 of the carrier element 2.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the clevis 26 may pass around the centralbody 12 of the carrier element 2 and the stop part 27 may be an abutmenton the main body 12.

In another embodiment, as shown in dashed lines in FIG. 3, the clevis 26may pass through the inside of the traction ring 5 or of a supportsecured thereto and optionally forming a second ring: the inside of thisring constitutes the stop part 27 against which the clevis comes tobear. If constituted directly by the traction ring 5, it may benecessary to provide a spacer or partition subdividing the inside of thering 5 into two sub-rings so as to ensure that the traction element 20cannot impede movement of the moving part 4 when it is desired to pullon the clevis 26 in order to disengage the abutment 15 for the end ofthe hook 3: such a spacer is shown in dashed lines in FIG. 3.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the moving means 4 is shown as comprising twohinged-together portions, namely the clevis 26 which is hinged on theabutment 15 and two links connecting said abutment 15 to an axis carriedby the ring 5 and passing right through the body thereof; the clevis 26itself surrounds the body 12 of the carrier element 2 as shown in FIG. 4which is a simplified section on AA' of FIG. 3, or else it surrounds thebranch of the ring 5 or the sub-ring that engages the body 12, as shownin dashed lines in FIG. 3.

In this embodiment, a resilient member 18 in the form of a hairpin hasits base bearing against the inside of the traction ring 5 and surroundsthe axis of rotation of the links of the moving means 4: thereafter,each of its two branches forms an S-shape with the ends thereof bearingagainst the axis forming the abutment 15 and on which the clevis 26 ishinged; this resilient element 18 thus forces the moving means 4 toremain in its maximally closed position bearing against the stop part27.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, the resilient element 18 may be ahelical spring surrounding the main element 14 of the moving means 4 andheld in a compressed or tensioned state between one of the ends of themoving means 4 (being secured thereto by any appropriate washer or pinsystem) and one of the two bearings 13 secured to the main body 12 ofthe carrier element 2, and guiding said main element 14 thereof.

In a particular embodiment, said hook-retaining member 22 for retainingthe hook 1 includes two symmetrical portions both of which are in theform of respective hooks, said portions surrounding and projectingbeyond opposite sides of the central body 12 of the carrier element 2 toco-operate with the retaining abutment or finger 15 in the fasteningposition, which two portions are united by surrounding the end of thehook 1 to which they are secured.

In a version that is intended to be operable from the bow of a boat andusing mechanical implementations that are simple like those shown in thefigures, said moving means 4 includes, in addition to the resilientelement 18, a fixing part 23 for fixing to a release member 21 on thesame side as the traction ring 5. By applying traction to the releasemember, it is possible to disengage the abutment 15 for retaining thesecured end 3 of the moving hook 1, and by releasing said member it ispossible to return said abutment 15 into its locking position underdrive from said resilient element 18, and this applies equally well tothe embodiment of FIG. 3 and to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2.

Said release member 21 may be fixed along the mooring or link element 20and may be recovered by any operator holding the mooring 20.

To enable said hook 1 to be placed around the mooring part 19., thedevice of the invention includes a removable boathook pole 16 having oneend that includes a notch 17 for securing the abutment that must then beincluded in the projecting axes such as the retaining fingers 15. Theboathook pole is secured to the carrier element 2 by pulling, inoperation, on the mooring line or link element 20 that is held in apre-stressed state against said boathook pole 16; the hook is then heldby the notch 17 against the retaining abutment 15 and it is held inplace, for example, against the end 23 of the moving means 4 whichreceive the release member 21, as shown in FIG. 1. This dispositionmakes it possible to ensure that the hook 1 is securely retained by theboathook pole 16 and enables it to be pointed and moved in any direction25, thus making it possible to fasten it under the best possibleconditions.

Such a disposition of the characteristic elements of the invention,whichever embodiment is concerned, also ensures that the devicewithstands the traction force T as taken up by the mooring part 19exerting a reaction force F: these two opposing forces T and F naturallytend to open the hook 1 by causing it to tilt about its axis 6 relativeto the carrier element 2, and it is the end 3 of the hook 1, with orwithout the hook-securing member, that must provide sufficient strengthto prevent any such opening by bearing against the retaining abutment15.

The force E taken up by the end 3 of the hook and possibly also thehook-securing member 22 is nevertheless much smaller than the tractionforce proper T, since it benefits from a lever arm h relative to theaxis of rotation 6 that is much greater than the lever arm d of thetraction force.

Thus, by optimizing the device of the invention, by any conventionalmechanical or strength of materials calculations, it is possible toobtain dimensions for the various parts and elements described abovethat are reasonable and easy to manufacture: the various parts may bemanufactured separately and then welded together, or they may be made inthe form of integral parts, e.g. by molding and/or forging, followed bymachining.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, to ensure that the retaining finger 15 is held withgreater security in the hooks 22 of the securing member 3, the hooks maybe slightly curved in shape, curving back on themselves through morethan 90°, and in the locking and traction position the end of the hook 1situated against the main body 12 of the carrier element 2 must then beat a distance "e" therefrom which is compatible with the hook shape ofthe securing member 22. Such a disposition requires a greater force onthe release member 21 to push away the curved hooks 22 in addition tothe reaction force from the resilient element 18.

Indeed, this distance "e" is necessary to ensure that the device shownin FIG. 3 operates properly so as to enable the moving part 4 to pivotupwards by pushing back the end 3 of the hook against the central body12 of the carrier element 2, so as to make it possible thereafter forthe end 3 to be disengaged thus allowing the hook 1 to tilt while beingreleased from the mooring part 19. In practice, this distance "e" shouldbe equal to the diameter either of the central body of the carrierelement 2, or else of the main body 9 of the hook 1.

Once the retaining finger 15 or abutment has been disengaged from theend 3 or from the securing member 22, the entire fastening hook 1 cantilt about the axis 6 because the reaction force F of the mooring part32 is offset from said axis by the distance "d": the hook assembly 1then pivots about the axis and disengages itself from the resilientclosure element 11. The mooring part 19 continues to rub and/or pushagainst the inside of the hook 1, thus opening it fully or at leastuntil the traction T which continues to be exerted on the mooring 20 isin line with the direction xx', thereby enabling the mooring device ofthe invention to be completely disengaged from the part 19 without anymanual intervention being necessary for that purpose,

I claim:
 1. A remote and fast-acting fastening and release devicecomprising: a hook suitable for engaging a mooring part on which thedevice must be capable of fastening and from which it must be capable ofreleasing; a traction ring receiving a link element on which a tractionforce may be exerted in a traction direction, said hook being mounted tomove about an axis perpendicular to the traction direction between anopen position and a fastening position, and the axis being located atone end of a carrier element that carries the traction ring at itsopposite end, the hook including a curved main body first end of whichis closed, in the fastening position, by a tilting element, and a secondend of which is situated adjacent to the carrier element in thefastening position, the curvature of the main body being such that inthe fastening position, the force exerted by the mooring part on thehook in reaction to the traction force tends to open the hook by causingit to tilt about the axis, to move its second end away from the carrierelement, which second end, in the fastening position is held by anabutment of a moving locking means generally stationary relative to thecarrier element, which abutment in the fastening position exerts on thesecond end a force, having a moment about a locking means axis whichcompensates the moment of the reaction force from the mooring part, suchthat the hook while in the fastening position is held generallystationary against rotation, wherein the second end of said hookcooperates with the abutment in a manner such that when the abutment inthe fastening position is activated by the moving means in the tractionforce direction, the abutment must urge the second end of the hooktowards the carrier element in order to allow said second end todisengage and to allow the hook to tilt towards its open position, andwherein, when the device is in the fastening position, said second endof the hook is at a distance "e" from the carrier element, such that itis possible for the hook to move towards the carrier element and suchthat, so long as the moving means is not actuated such movement is notpossible and said abutment is prevented from disengaging and wherein themoving locking means is hinged beneath the traction ring and includesthe abutment that comes to bear against the end of the hook which itsecures in a locking position, and disposed on the same side of thecentral body of the carrier element as said hook, which moving meansincludes a clevis secured to said abutment and itself coming to bearagainst a part of the carrier element.
 2. A fastening and release deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the carrier element comprises a singlemetal rod of substantially cylindrical section whose middle portion isrectilinear and constitutes an elongate central body with a curved firstend thereof forming the traction ring and with the other end thereofsupporting a hinge axis.
 3. A fastening and release device according toclaim 1, wherein said hook includes a supporting fork that is secured tothe main body thereof and that carries said axis enabling the hook torotate relative to the carrier element.
 4. A fastening and releasedevice according to claim 1, wherein said moving means includes aresilient member and a fixing part for fixing to a release memberadjacent to the traction ring, which release member makes it possible,when traction is applied thereto, to disengage the abutment retainingthe second end of the moving hook, and by such release enables the saidabutment to be returned to a locking position by said resilient member.5. A fastening and release device according to claim 1, including aremovable boathook pole having an end which includes a notch forsecuring a retaining abutment.